"He is first noted in historical records on April 25, 1603 in Leiden, Holland as a witness at Raphael Roelandt's betrothal. For purposes unknown, Francis Cooke resided in Leiden for about six years before the arrival of the congregation of English Separatist pastor John Robinson in 1609.

"Francis Cooke was betrothed to Hester Mahieu at the French Walloon Church (Vrouwekerk) in Leiden on June 30, 1603, with she joining the church one month prior to her betrothal. Her family were Protestant (Walloon) refugees from Lille, France to England. She was probably born in the late 1580s with her family coming to Leiden about 1590. Mary Mahieu, a possible sister of Hester, married Jan de Lannoy in Leiden and their child Philip de Lannoy had Francis Cooke as a witness to his baptism in the Vrouwekerk on November 6, 1603. Cooke's nephew Philip 'Delanoy' would later join the Separatist Church in England and arrived in Plymouth in November 1621 on the ship Fortune."

He held various offices, all well-documented in easily-located sources. In 1651 William Bradford wrote "Francis Cooke is still living, a very olde man, and hath seen his children's children have children; after his wife came over, (with other of his children,) he hath 3 still living by her, all married, and have 5 children; so their increase is 8. And his sone John, which came over with him, is maried, and hath 4 children living."

[S101] The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3 and The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England,1634-1635, Volumes 1-6, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996-2011.